''The Actor Who Disappeared'' () is a 1941 Italian

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

Luigi Zampa Luigi Zampa (2 January 1905 – 16 August 1991) was an Italian film director. Biography Son of a worker, Zampa studied filmmaking from 1932 to 1937 at the Italian film school in Rome. He directed several Italian neorealism films in the 1940 ...

and starring

Vivi Gioi Vivi Gioi (born Vivienne Trumpy; 2 January 1917 – 12 July 1975) was an Italian actress. Her alternative professional last name Diesca was an anagram of De Sica, the famous actor and director with whom she was in love. She is remembered for '' ...

María Mercader María de la Asunción Mercader Forcada (; ; 6 March 1918 – 26 January 2011) was a Spanish film actress who appeared in some forty films between 1923 and 1992. She moved to Italy in 1939, later becoming the second wife of film director V ...

and

Giulio Donadio Giulio Donadio (5 July 1889 – 15 June 1951) was an Italian actor and film director. Donadio appeared in over forty films between 1912 and 1947, including the historical melodrama '' Red Passport'' (1935).Landy p.155 He also directed several film ...

. It is a remake of the German film ''Was wird hier gespielt?'' (1940) based on the eponymous play by

Theo Lingen Theo Lingen (; 10 June 1903 – 10 November 1978), born Franz Theodor Schmitz, was a German actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 230 films between 1929 and 1978, and directed 21 films between 1936 and 1960. Life and c ...

. It was shot at the

Cinecittà Studios Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City) is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios were constru ...

in Rome. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Giorgio Pinzauti.

Synopsis

A young actor, frustrated by the negligible roles he keeps being cast in, plans a hoax. The

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

he is appearing in, involves his character being shot dead while hiding in a

cupboard A cupboard is a piece of furniture for enclosing dishware or grocery items that are stored in a home. The term is sometimes also used for any form of cabinet or enclosed bookcase. It gradually evolved from its original meaning: an open-shelved ...

by an outraged husband. However, when the door is opened he has completely vanished forcing the management to return the audience's money. However, one of the spectators, a

police officer A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...

had received an anonymous letter claiming that a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

was to take place at that

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

that night and begins an investigation.

Cast

as L'attrice *

as L'attrice ingenua *

Stefano Sibaldi Stefano Sibaldi (11 June 1905 – 2 July 1996) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Livorno, Sibaldi was considered to be among the most successful of the early actors and dubbers of the 20th century. He began his acting care ...

as L'attore *

as Il commissario de polizia *

Carlo Campanini Carlo Campanini (5 October 1906 – 20 November 1984) was an Italian actor, singer and comedian. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1939 and 1969. Life and career Born in Turin, Campanini attended a technical school and a course of ...

as L'altro attore *

Lauro Gazzolo Lauro Gazzolo (born Ilario Gazzolo; 15 October 1900 – 2 October 1970) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Nervi, Gazzolo began his career on screen in 1938 starring in the comedy film '' The Document'' and became mo ...

as L'impresario * Bianca Della Corte as La figlia * Maria Jacobini as La madre *

Virgilio Riento Virgilio Riento (29 November 1889 – 7 September 1959) was an Italian actor and comedian. He appeared in 108 films between 1936 and 1959. Life and career The son of a theatrical impresario, Riento made his debut on stage as a child, as a ...

as Il trovarobe *

Arturo Bragaglia Arturo Bragaglia (7 January 1893 – 21 January 1962) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1938 to 1961. Selected filmography References External links * 1893 births 1962 deaths Italian male f ...

as Il suggeritore * Carlo Lombardi as Il "grande" attore * Manoel Roero as Il regista *

Valentina Cortese Valentina Elena Cortese Rossi di Coenzo (1 January 1923 – 10 July 2019), sometimes credited as Valentina Cortesa, was an Italian film and theatre actress. Her screen career spanned over 100 productions across over five decades, from 1941 until ...

as Minor role

References

Bibliography

* Curti, Roberto. ''Italian Giallo in Film and Television: A Critical History''. McFarland, 2022. * Moliterno, Gino. ''The A to Z of Italian Cinema''. Scarecrow Press, 2009.

External links

* 1941 films 1941 mystery films Italian mystery films 1940s Italian-language films Italian black-and-white films Films directed by Luigi Zampa Italian remakes of foreign films Remakes of German films 1940s Italian films Films shot at Cinecittà Studios Italian films based on plays {{1940s-Italy-film-stub